What Makes A Confession Invalid

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Omnidirectionalwhy

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I am just wondering what makes a confession invalid. At my last confession I said all the mortal sins I could remember, but at the end instead of saying it had been 4 weeks since my last confession I said it had been five. The thought process in my head went very quickly to say five instead of four because of the amount of sins I had. I didn’t realize until the next day that this might have been wrong.

Also I am starting to think that I may be struggling with scruples. Not just with this but in general. Thanks for any of your thoughts.
 
I struggle with scruples too and have made similar “mistakes” in confession and thought a lot about it after. A priest was very reassuring when I talked to him about it.

Your confession is valid even if you make a “mistake” like that. Where its not valid is if you deliberately lie or omit sins in order to deceive your confessor into absolution.
 
Thanks for your response. So even if it is valid, should I still mention this mistake in my next confession?
 
Wouldn’t hurt to talk to a priest for advice. It does help when you think scrupulously. I have said incorrect things in confession myself but not to deceive and that’s the key part. I was told that by a priest.
 
If you forgot a mortal sin you should mention that in your next confession. Making an honest mistake by saying “five weeks” instead of “four weeks” seems a non-issue to me.
 
Knowing how long it’s been since a person’s last confession provides the priest with a useful yardstick for knowing where a person is at in terms of their spiritual life. Of course for many people, remembering where they left their keys is hard enough never mind counting how long since their last confession! So the exact length of time isn’t really all that important but you should tell the priest that you think you’re struggling with scruples - this is helpful for him to know so that he in turn can help you.
 
Thanks for the reply. I’ll ask the priest for advice, I didn’t want to deceive I just said something incorrect.
 
That’s the thing. I remembered that it was four weeks but said five instead. I’m starting to think it’s not an issue because I did not omit a mortal sin, I think I’m going to mention to the priest that I said something incorrect during my last confession but not because I wanted to deceive my last confessor. Thanks for the reply.
 
I would see a difference between making an honest mistake and deliberately withholding something back.
 
It sounds like you may be struggling with scruples. It’s easy for a scrupulant to feel distressed about forgetting things or saying things wrong when you’re in confession. Place your trust in God’s mercy and be at peace.

Quite frankly there are times when I don’t remember the exact date of my last confession, I give them a rough estimate (“a few weeks”) and explain to them that I don’t remember exactly when. No priest has ever pressed me on the matter.
 
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Omnidirectionalwhy said:
Also I am starting to think that I may be struggling with scruples. Not just with this but in general. Thanks for any of your thoughts.
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One tendency I’ve noticed with people struggling with scruples is that they tend to worry that they’ve committed mortal sin by mistake. God isn’t like that; you can’t block yourself off from Him by accident. Every sin is a choice to turn away from God. You can’t make that decision without, you know, making a decision.

Let’s say you’ve been pulling double shifts for three weeks, you get home exhausted one day at dawn, and you ask your kid why she’s up so early on a Sunday; and she looks at you weirdly and says “I’m getting ready for school. It’s Monday. Duh!”, and you realize that you’re off a day. Yesterday was Sunday, and you missed Mass. Not a mortal sin. Not a venial sin. Not a sin at all. I wouldn’t even mention it at confession. It was a mistake.

Sin requires intent. If you didn’t mean to do it, it wasn’t a sin.

I hope this helps.
 
Since it is Jesus who forgives our sins and stands behind the priest he already knows our heart and our desires. If we estimate incorrectly then Jesus already knows we are not doing it on purpose and uses the mouth and the ears of His priest to give the absolution that binds and looses our sins. Jesus wants us to strive and knows we can’t be perfect in all things which is why He picked Peter to lead the Church and David to show how to repent.
 
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